Museum of Magic
by Burt Hedgehog Extraordinaire
Summary: During Harry's sixth year at Hogwarts, Desmond LeFiere and his wife converted the Riddle Mansion into the newly renouned Museum of Magic. Hogwart's sixth year students are brought to the Museum on a field trip but with the nature of the house trouble know
1. Chapter 1: Arrival at the Museum

Disclaimer: I do not own the characters of Harry, Hermione, Ron, Dumbledore, Neville, Tom Riddle, and others from J.K. Rowling's books. I did however create Desiree, Desmond, Camilla, Gabriel, Gail, Desdemona, and a few other characters that are included in this story.

"Welcome Ladies and Gentlemen to the Museum of Magic. My name is Desiree LeFieré and I will be filling in as your tour guide today. Do not worry, your intended tour guide was sent to St. Mungos after he accidentally touched a cursed spell book but he is recovering quite well and I was the first person to enter this house and rid it of most of the dangers that were in here from the time of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named's residence here. Please come this way. We have a few rules that you need to know about before we can start on our tour. First, do not touch anything unless I say that you can. Many of the artifacts are cursed and could harm you and we are trying to preserve these important historical objects. Second, do not leave the group. This mansion was the house of Tom Riddle Sr., the father of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named and the rooms and passageways that we are not going into are very dangerous as we have not been able to make those areas safe or remove some of the more difficult spells. Thirdly, I need all of you to sign this waiver." The tall, elegant but foreboding woman reached over with her pale, delicate hands and grabbed a pile of parchment scrolls and quills off of an antique table that was covered in dust and grime. She pulled out a wand made of a dark, exotic wood and swished it through the air. The scrolls and quills flew into the hands of her tour group as she asked for a volunteer to read it aloud. A small dark haired boy quivered with fright as her deep, mesmerizing green eyes passed over him. "How about you, young sir" she spoke in an exquisite yet eerie voice.

Neville, a sixth year student from Hogwarts, trembled as he murmured the contents of the legal waiver to the rest of his classmates.

We, The Museum of Magic, take no responsibility for harm of people or their possessions while inside the Riddle mansion but swear that at least one attendant or tour guide that is magically certified and competent to protect their group, will accompany (name of group). There will be at least one Museum official for every four people.

Sincerely,

Desmond LeFieré

I, ­­­­ (your full name) from (the group you are touring with) , swear that I agree to the terms specified by my tour guide or attendant and those stated above and will follow their instructions about safety and rules in the Museum of Magic at all times.

Neville sighed as he finished reading the contract and cowered over to a group of people. Another sixth year student, patted him on the back as she said, "You read that waiver very well Neville. It was cruel of our tour guide to pick you. She saw that you did not want to be the one to read in front of our whole class." A certain pale, blond boy wearing a black robe with the crest of the House of Slytherin on it interrupted and said, "Awww look Crabbe, Miss Mudblood's stickin up for the nerd with the crazy parents. I think it must be love." Draco Malfoy, the cruel, blond, member of Slytherin and his friend, the less-than-smart, Crabbe laughed pointedly at Neville and Hermione as they walked over to their tour guide. A tall, green-eyed boy with unruly jet black hair and an odd lightning shaped scar on his forehead and a tall red-haired and freckled boy restrained Neville from trying to punch Draco and Crabbe as Hermione tried to calm him down, "I know that I say this a lot but it's not worth it to try and get back at them. We're surrounded by teachers and museum workers and we've been waiting for the chance to see the museum ever since it opened. Anyways, they know that we hate them." Neville shook off Harry and Ron—his restraints as he huffed, "I know, I just hate it when he insults my parents. I mean it was his father's group who hurt them." Hermione comforted him and said, "I know Neville. They're jerks."

"We are ready to enter the Museum. Everyone quiet," Desiree's sickeningly sweet voice cut in on their conversation. Everyone in the room jumped with fright (that is except for Desiree because she was the kind of person who's demeanor was always calm) as a giant oak door groaned open at the other end of the foyer and a small house elf squeaked, "Madam, the house is ready."


	2. Chapter 2: Tour of the Grounds

"Everyone, before we go you are to sort yourselves into groups of four and I would like a museum staff member to pick a group to lead." Desiree directed forcefully pulling everyone's attentions from the scare they had just experienced. Harry, Ron, Neville, and Hermione all turned to each other and decided to become a group. Dumbledore and a tall, dark haired man in his early twenties walked over to their group. "Harry, I will be accompanying your group for extra protection as well as Desdemona LeFieré, the daughter of Desiree and Desmond."

"Everyone seems to be in a group so we shall go out now. Each group will have it's own Tour Broom Bus which you must stay in at all times unless I direct you otherwise. Please follow me and everyone get in their bus with their group."

Everyone started to walk out of the door but Dumbledore grabbed Harry's shoulder and pulled him aside. "You have your Invisibility Cloak as I recommended you take before we left?" Harry nodded and added, "I have my cloak, wand, and I am also wearing one of the Shield Cloaks that I purchased from Weasley's Wizard Wheezes." Dumbledore nodded and guided Harry towards the door so they would not miss their group.

They hurried through the foggy drizzle to what looked like a floating, yellow golf cart with the words _Museum of Magic : Riddle Mansion_ written on the side. Dumbledore took a seat in the front next to Dustin while Harry slid in next to Ron in the back of the Tour Bus. "Ron, have you ever seen one of these buses? There must be a lot of broom power for them to float." "Oh ya," Ron replied, "They use them at all museums. What do they do in Muggle museums? Do they use cars or something?" Harry and Hermione laughed. "No Ron, Muggles have to walk through their museums. I hated that because my feet would always be tired. By the way, who steers these things?" Hermione said. "The bus at the front is steered by the tour guide and the rest of the buses just follow one after another." Neville replied, feeling proud to be able to answer Hermione's question.

The bus started zooming down the front driveway towards the main gate that they had entered in earlier in the morning. The buses all stopped in a line just on the inside of the gate. Desiree's voice projected from the roof of their bus as she explained, "I will start by telling some of the history of the house. These are the original gates that were put up when the house was originally built by Camilla Riddle for her family. It was uncommon for a woman to direct the building of a house in those days because women were not given many rights but Camilla's husband Gabriel known as Gabe was known for his respect of a woman's rights and gave her the privilege of making the house how she wanted it. As you can see, there is a plaque on the other side of the fence that says Riddle Manor. That plaque was given to Gabe Riddle as a birthday present from Gail Hornish, his secret mistress and neighbor's servant.

The buses started heading back up the driveway but turned off on another branch which led to a decrepit cottage. Along the way Desiree continued, "Just before the house was completed Camilla found out about Gabe's relationship with Gail and she threw Gabe out of the main house which they were already living in and made him live in the cottage which was to become the gardener's house. Once Gabe was thrown out of his house he resided in this house until he died of starvation because he ran out of food." Ron looked at Harry and mouthed, "Bloody hell, that sounds kind of creepy." Harry nodded and looked over at the cottage.

As Harry looked into the window a dark sillouette stopped in front of the window, paused, and slowly crept away. Harry turned to his friends and asked, "Did-- did you see that man in the window over there?" Neville whimpered and shrunk down in his seat while Hermione said, "Stop trying to scare us Harry. It's not going to work" Harry pleaded, "I wasn't trying to scare you I really saw something there." Ron looked at them, his face white with fright, "He's telling the truth. I saw it too."


End file.
